DALTON, Mass. — The Central Berkshire Regional School District is anticipating a 4.13 percent increase to its gross initial budget for fiscal 2026, translating to an increase of $1,473,826. 

 

This year's gross budget was $35,679,791, and next year's is forecast at $37,153,617. 

 

Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis emphasized that these initial projections may change because there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding it, such as Chapter 70 funding and insurance rates. 

 

The budget was developed through a collaborative process involving principals, teachers, the union, and the Finance Subcommittee, Superintendent Leslie Blake-Davis said.

 

The district relies heavily on its principles to provide the administration with the information needed to develop the budget. This year, part of that process was requesting the principals fill out a form. 

 

On the form, the principals were asked to prioritize their requests, justify them with data, show how they aligned to district plans, explain the student impact, and identify funding sources. 

 

"One other thing to know also is that we do ask principals to talk to their teachers and to talk to staff about this budget, so that it's not just principals that have input into the budget, but it's also teachers that have input into this budget," Blake-Davis said. 

 

The district also closely looks at scheduling and resource allocation to reallocate funds to areas of greater need.

 

"One of our goals is to provide students with educational programming and instruction that upholds high standards for our students. High standards include the state-identified standards and frameworks," Blake-Davis said. 

 

Secondly, they aim to develop its budget collaboratively. 

 

The district is eyeing a 12.27 percent increase in operating funds, which is an increase of $3,803,014 from FY25. 

 

The fiscal 2025's adopted operating funds were $30,993,748. The initial operating fund budget for next year is projected to be $34,796,762. 

 

Projected increases include a contractual increase of 3 percent for pupil transportation, an additional $20,000 for Berkshire County retirement, and an additional $210,000 for special education out-of-district tuition and transportation costs. 

 

Health and dental insurance costs are projected to increase significantly. The projected increase is $1,055,295.

 

Additional increases include $120,000 for Chromebook and computer renewals and $42,000 for technology software and hardware.  

 

The budget also has an increase of $76,000 for prepaid transportation, which was added back into the budget after being paid for last year using rural aid. 

 

Additionally, there are increases of $65,265 for supplies, utilities, and building maintenance, broken down as follows: $28,265 for supplies and utilities, $10,000 for field maintenance, and $15,000 for the property equipment improvement plan, which is being added back into the budget after being paid for last year using rural aid. 

 

The budget has one decrease of $465,000 because the principal and interest the district has been paying yearly with its operating budget is moving to capital this year. 

 

Also included in the budget are additional positions that were added last year after the FY25 budget was approved. 

 

These additions include one full-time school adjustment counselor who splits their time between Wahconah Regional High School and Craneville Elementary School, a half-time districtwide English learner teacher, and a full-time special education teacher at Craneville. 

 

There is also an addition of one full-time Bridges teacher at Nessacus Regional Middle School. The Bridges program was started last year specifically for students two to three years below grade level.

 

"We track their progress very carefully and very closely. A standout piece of data for this group is that those students are averaging anywhere between 92 and 100 percent attendance," Blake-Davis said. 

 

"So this group, these are students that typically might not come to school. They are coming to school, and not only are they coming to school, but they're also making progress." 

 

The program was partially funded last year by the Taconic Foundation. The district is still in communication with the foundation to share the district's data and discuss possibly having the program partially funded through them again, Blake-Davis said. 

 

There are two decreases for positions: a full-time Title One tutor and a full-time instructional coach. 

 

Wahconah Principal Aaron Robb and Assistant Superintendent Michael Henault looked at scheduling in the high school and decided to have students receive group-targeted ELA support from a licensed high school teacher rather than a Title One tutor. 

 

"Another decrease is the instructional coach position at the high school. So with the retirement of the assistant principal of the high school, that position is going to turn into a vice principal of teaching and learning when we fill that, and that will be in the spring," Blake-Davis said. 

 

Other position increases include $175,550 for the substitute line and $1,928,740 for contractual increases. 

 

The district has looked at how to reallocate its resources to determine where they are most needed. 

 

"This is some work that I give credit to Assistant Superintendent Henault, Principal Robb and our Student Services Director Nathan Loux," Blake-Davis said. 

 

The school will consolidate resources so one of the high school's special education teachers will be the facilitator of a Student Support Center under the new title of a student support coordinator, she said. 

 

"We had talked about is having at the high school a Student Support Center. So, that means that students who are struggling in the classroom for a variety of reasons, oftentimes it's disciplinary or behavioral, we want to provide them with the tools to be successful in the classroom," Blake-Davis said. 

 

"We want to, as much as possible, eliminate things like out-of-school suspension or even sometimes in-school suspension. How can we support you in this moment to be successful." 

 

The district already has one science teacher who is 0.8 at the middle school and 0.2 at the high school. Next year, the science position will be full time at Nessacus Regional Middle School.

 

"You've probably heard this loud and clear from our principals from the two smaller schools: they have a math interventionist that they share. They are very much wanting a reading interventionist as well. Very much also needed looking at the data, particularly Kittredge," Blake-Davis said. 

 

The district will be looking at the enrollment data and the number of classroom teachers needed with the anticipation of turning one of those classroom teacher positions into an ELA interventionist position that would be shared between the two schools. 

 

The district plans to use more grant funds and revolving accounts to offset the operating budget compared to last year.

 

"You'll see that some that we used last year are we are not using this year, for instance, the Student Opportunity Act grant and the [Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.] Those both had to be spent by FY25 so we are not seeing those grants going forward," said Gregory Boino, director of finance and operations. 

 

The district did receive rural aid, and the district's finance committee will look at how to use those anticipated funds to offset some of the budget salaries or expenses like they did last year. 

 

"We did see a decrease in the use of these funds, but overall, we were able to allocate just about $1.8 million to our grants and revolving accounts," Boino said.